ASU Basketball: Women Face USC To Begin Toughest Home Weekend

ASU basketball women’s team begin their final home weekend of the season Friday versus USC. The Sun Devils look to avenge their 65-50 to USC last month.

ASU basketball women’s team enters the final weekend of the regular season versus the Los Angeles schools seeking momentum heading to Pac-12 Women’s Basketball Tournament next week in Seattle.

Arizona State begins their, in the words of head coach Charli Turner Thorne, “toughest home weekend of the season” as they face USC Friday and UCLA Sunday.

The Sun Devils enter this weekend at 17-10 and 8-8 in Pac-12 play, tied for fifth place in the conference.

A win and a Oregon loss versus Cal Friday would clinch the Sun Devils the fifth overall seed in the Pac-12 Tournament.

First things first is ASU needs to take care of its own business versus the Trojans.

Arizona State is coming off splitting games with Arizona last weekend.

After losing 62-58 in Tucson last Friday, the Sun Devils bounced back with a wire-to-wire win over the Wildcats 67-54 Sunday.

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The Sun Devils received contributions from every player with 10 Sun Devils scoring with guard Sabrina Haines leading the way with 13 points.

Forward Sophie Brunner also finished in double digits with 10 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 steals and 2 blocks.

ASU came out very aggressive in Sunday’s game forcing 25 turnovers and drawing 23 fouls.

Arizona State’s opponent, USC, has been 2-4 since upsetting the Sun Devils on January 29.

USC (14-13, 5-11) is coming off a split of the Washington schools defeating Washington State 80-64 and losing to then-No. 9 Washington 87-74.

The Trojans, after trailing at halftime, came out firing on all cylinders in the second half outscoring ASU 40-24 to secure a 65-50 victory.

USC finished shooting 54 percent from the field while ASU shot a porous 37 percent from the field.

The Trojans had four of their five starters finish in double-figures with guard Sadie Edwards leading the way with 17 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists.

Forward Kristen Simon finished with a double-double of 16 points and 11 rebounds.

Arizona State just went ice-cold from the field in the second half and didn’t receive much contributions from people not named Brunner or center Quinn Dornstauder.

Brunner and Dornstuader combined for 27 points on 10-for-22 shooting in the first meeting while the reminder of the team finished with 23 points on 10-for-31 shooting.

USC is a lengthy team, and with the absence of forward Kelsey Moos, the Sun Devils had trouble defending it.

The Trojans’ length also disrupted ASU’s offensive flow as their zone defense suffocated the Sun Devils preventing them from getting any good shots off.

Arizona State needs to play with the same energy and aggressiveness they played with Sunday versus Arizona, and put pressure on USC defensively.

Next: ASU Basketball: How Good Can the Women’s Team Be in March?

This is an important game for Arizona State who want to have momentum entering March. Tip-off of Arizona State-USC is at 8 p.m. MST and can be seen on Pac-12 Arizona.